As a form of protest against Washington’s support for Israel, some Malaysians are boycotting U.S. products. Israel has launched military offensives in Gaza which have claimed the lives of more than 800 Palestinians. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is actively supporting the boycott campaign.

More than 2,000 Muslim restaurants belonging to the Association of Muslim Restaurant Operators have stopped serving Coca-Cola products to their customers. The Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association have also identified 100 other products with brand names like Starbucks, Colgate, McDonald's, Nike, Wendy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Dell, and Maybelline which are targets of the boycott campaign.

As much as I want to participate in this boycott, I have to constantly ask myself: Will it do more harm than good? It seems so easy to boycott American goods but I have to give up on a lot to do so.

When we are so used to Americanization and globalization, do you think it is easy to boycott goods, products and brands that have been part of our life for years? Who are we kidding? Look around and I am sure you have a piece of “Americanization”.

I am very sure there are other ways to express our sentiments in this issue. During Friday prayers just now, the money collected will be donated and benefit the people of Palestine. By doing so, the money will be used for daily necessities, such as food. I prefer doing donation so that it will, in one way or another, benefit the innocent victims.

I don't think the point here is to bankrupt Coca Cola but to send a message that the Muslim economy is strong enough to affect the West, after all this is as much economic warfare as it is about territory

It's always easy to call for a boycott of American goods. Groups and individuals advocating such a boycott may have the best intentions but seriously, does it work? We call for a boycott of US products and have we considered the economic consequences of the US and Jewish lobbyists hitting us back?

Malaysian politicians think too highly of themselves. The US doesn't really care if we boycott their companies. They can see through the smoke and mirrors. Who're the big foreign investors in Malaysia? American companies!

It’s time for Malaysian Student Leaders to take action and follow suit on an economic boycott. This will give us a double edge benefit: helping our Malaysian industry & creating a consumer-centered business model.

Carefully select products to boycott: We wouldn’t want our industry to be in trouble don’t we? Let’s examine which products would be wise to boycott at a start and which we can live without. Then we work to boycott others from there.

Its an ORDER! Boycott, Refuse, Stay Away From, Impose Sanctions, Embargo, Shun, Proscribe, Prohibit, Reject, and all other synonyms to Boycott, Israeli’s or Jewish, or any organizations or products related to them, or even supporting them. Boycott!

They maybe laughing at me, as a Muslim independent blog writer, “who are you to boycott us?”, but if we all cooperate together, boycott their product, they will feel some (if not huge) impact from our actions.

1) Keep up the demonstration against Israel brutality in Gaza
2) BOYCOTT all Israel and USA goods and currency
3) Keep praying for God justice against Israel
4) Keep up the moral and financial support to Palestinians – DONATE
5) Spreads the words on Israel cruelty to the people around you and the world community

“Those bloggers who supported Dr Mahathir's call probably forgot they are blogging on American products. If you boycott America then you have to stop using computers, computer software and all American made blogs and not forgetting the Internet. Can you? Our former premier probably didn't realize that he himself is a blogger and very deeply involved in using American products.”

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad delivering a speech in a national mosque. Photo from the blog of Jaff Point

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18 comments

[…] Everyday Ordinariness, as well as other selected Malaysian blogs, have been featured in the article Malaysia: Campaign to boycott US goods at Global Voices Online. A Portuguese version of the article is also […]

11 January 2009, 14:28 pm

Rom

Can we have a more comprehensive list of items. Im still unaware of some other items. I started my boycott about 10 yrs ago. Seems to be working now that the U.S.A is going bankrupt … lol !

I think this campaign won’t sustain in a very long time cause we are using their products in our daily life, we might think we have substitution for it but think carefully most of the IT stuffs and inventions are from US. At the same time, our main export income partly from US too. We shall think further of our country economic condition…Not to forget there are also many of USA base products and companies in our country and many Malaysians are working in the companies too. Are we going to be jobless just because we hate US action. I dont mind to do donation and other things that can help Pallestine but to boycott US products is not a very wise action and I agree with that we should identify whether the company have directly involve in the war or not before we boycott them.

I believe that we should do the best that we can in our lives. If this can be our little contribution to end the Gaza invasion and stop the war, what’s stopping us then? Show some support. I admit that I may not be able to proceed with the boycott fully, but whatever I can do, I will. Still have Nescafe and Milo in the kitchen, and I’m not throwing the 3/4 tin away. I’m not that rich too promote that kind of act. But I probably won’t buy them the next time around. True, I got angry too when I saw that a lot of people enjoying McD while we are having this boycott campaign. Well, we can’t force people to see things the way we see it. Let’s just hope that they’ll see and understand our action soon and support us then..

I do not think United States (US) is concern whether we, Malaysians boycott their products or otherwise. We have already allowed the Western culture to integrate and dominate the Malaysian way of life. How are we going to separate one from the other? I have been living in the United States for more than five years. I have had so much problems each time I try to buy any of their big named brands. I think it is their way of telling me that they have no need for my money. After this experience, I have found every reason to stop buying any of their brands all together.